1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to apparatus for playing games, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to apparatus and methods for an artillery game including cannons pivotal about both vertical and horizontal axes on a playing board, a scaled plotting chart reproduction of the playing board, and a direction and range finder for use in conjunction with said plotting chart and an elevation finder.
2. Description of the Prior Art (Prior Art Statement)
The following statement is intended to be a prior art statement in compliance with the guidance and requirements of 37 CFR 1.56, 1.97 and 1.98 and with 609 of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure.
The prior art includes apparatus for playing games including cannons for directing a projectile towards a designated target. Such prior art apparatus are represented by U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,383 to Miermans; U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,425 to Van Hennik; U.S. Pat. No. 2,295,225 to Lohr et al; U.S. Pat. No. 1,402,637 to Miller; U.S. Pat. No. 1,102,948 to Norton; and U.S. Pat. No. 714,770 to Zelch.
Also of possible interest are U.S. Pat. No. 3,009,700 to Dolega and U.S. Pat. No. 2,996,835 to Giuliano which show other types of projectile apparatus used in various games.
Although certain aspects of the present invention, such as cannons similar to those mentioned above, are shown in the prior art, none of the prior art references disclose an artillery game including a playing board having two orthogonal arrays of grid indicia, a plotting chart including a scale version of said grid indicia, and a direction and range finder which may be used, in conjunction with said plotting chart and an elevation finder, to calculate the appropriate vertical and horizontal orientation of the cannon, so that a projectile may be directed to hit a target located at a given point designated by specific first and second grid indicia.